Housing Authority appeals Hong Kong court’s backing of man’s right to inherit husband’s home

The government agency maintained on Wednesday it had to take the case to the city’s top appeal court because of the potential effects of the judgment.

“After a careful study of the judgment and consultation on legal advice, the Housing Authority decided to appeal to the Court of Final Appeal.”

The authority spokesman said that it would make no further comment on the case or the grounds for its appeal. A date for the hearing has yet to be set.

He was speaking in the wake of a Court of Appeal decision in a judicial review last month that ruled in favour of the late Edgar Ng Hon-lam, who had challenged the different inheritance rights for same-sex couples.

A legal expert and an activist criticised the authority’s decision to appeal at a legal seminar on the city’s LGBTQ movement at the University of Hong Kong on Wednesday.

Human rights lawyer Mark Daly, who handled the Ng case, said the government’s strategy on LGBTQ rights was “bizarre” as it had lost seven related court cases in a row over recent years and had still decided to appeal.

“Why do they continue to waste public funds?” he asked.

Hong Kong Court of Appeal upholds protection of gay couples’ inheritance rights

Daly also hit out at the government for its delaying tactics over LGBTQ rights, which meant there were “a lot of uphill battles ahead of us”.

Jerome Yau, co-founder of campaign group Marriage Equality, said the government’s approach to same-sex couples had been “messy and demeaning”.

“That’s very draining on them mentally, physically and financially,” Yau said. “But what is the reason really?”

Yau agreed that the government’s continuation of the fight would not lead anywhere and would be a waste of public cash.

Ng, who took his own life in 2020, launched a legal battle against the city’s inheritance legislation the year before, after learning he could not leave the flat he had bought under the government’s Home Ownership Scheme to his husband Henry Li Yik-ho.

Li, who took over the case after Ng’s death, said after the Court of Appeal ruling that he hoped the authority would give his late husband the respect he deserved and not push ahead with further legal action.

Hong Kong court upholds rulings that favour housing benefits for same-sex couples

Mr Justice Thomas Au Hing-cheung ruled that the different treatment given to gay people was an “impugned measure” and it was not “proportionate” when they were denied entitlements.

Au said that the choice to make a will should be irrespective of an individual’s sexual orientation, but that Li and Ng, who had a marriage certificate issued in Britain, found that it was not recognised in Hong Kong.

He also dismissed the government’s submission that its policies were in line with legislative aims to protect the integrity of traditional marriage, encourage opposite-sex marriage and maintain the coherence of the city’s legislation.

The courts have ruled in favour of a string of judicial challenges brought by LGBTQ groups since 2018.

These included the recognition of civil partnerships for same-sex couples for dependant visa purposes and the extension of spousal benefits to gay and lesbian civil servants.

The latest landmark judgment came in September from the Court of Final Appeal, which required the government to protect “core rights” for same-sex couples through some form of legal recognition, such as civil partnerships.